How much does a vacation rental website cost in 2026?

The range: $432.60 to $3,864.24 over three years

Using only prices vendors publish, a website for one vacation rental costs $432.60 to $3,864.24 over three years, before booking and payment fees. That’s about $12 to $107 a month, including a domain and one business email inbox.

• WordPress with a booking plugin: $432.60 with the free VikBooking Basic, or $849.60 with MotoPress Hotel Booking.
• Lodgify: $1,224.96 for Starter billed yearly, up to $3,360.24 for Ultimate billed monthly.
• Other rental software: Guesty Lite from $624.24, OwnerRez $1,740.24 plus its website add-on, Hospitable $2,424.24 to $3,864.24.
• A general builder: $1,332.96 on Wix Core or Squarespace Core, before you add a booking tool.
• Not comparable in dollars: Hostaway, Guesty Pro and Boostly are quote only, and Uplisting is priced in British pounds.

The bigger number is usually what Airbnb or Vrbo takes; see the worked example.

What you pay for

• The site and booking engine. From a free WordPress plugin to $85 a month for Lodgify Ultimate billed monthly.
• A channel manager. The software that syncs your calendar with Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com. Rental software includes it; WordPress plugins such as MotoPress use iCal calendar sync instead.
• Booking and payment fees. A percentage of each booking or online payment: 1% on Lodgify, Hospitable Direct Basic and Guesty Lite’s $9 plan, 1% + 0.85% on Hostfully Growth, 3% on Uplisting’s pay-as-you-go plan. The payment gateway, such as Stripe or PayPal, charges its own processing fee on top. See our transaction fees entry.
• Domain. Namecheap’s .com is $11.28 the first year and $18.48 a year after. Wix, Squarespace, Bluehost and Lodgify’s yearly and 2-year plans include a free first year.
• Email. One Google Workspace Business Starter inbox is $7 a month on Google’s annual plan ($8.40 on the flexible plan).
• Add-ons. Lodgify’s Smart Locks and Damage Protection add-ons aren’t priced on its pricing page, and OwnerRez charges SMS usage fees after 500 outbound segments.

True 3-year cost, route by route

Notes on each route

• Lodgify. On the 2-year term Starter is $24 a month, $72 less than yearly billing over 36 months if the rate holds. Basic ($14 a month billed yearly) has no website, and Starter allows two properties at most. The pricing page shows a 0% booking fee on every plan, but help-center articles still list 1.9% on Starter, so confirm at sign-up (Lodgify pricing).
• WordPress. Bluehost’s $3.99 needs a 36-month term and renews at $9.99 a month. MotoPress’s $499 lifetime license makes the total $931.60. VikBooking Pro is EUR 149 a year, which we haven’t converted. Upkeep is your job or your developer’s.
• Wix and Squarespace. These totals cover the site only. Wix doesn’t publish its HotelRunner booking fees, and on Squarespace you pay your rental software for the widget too, so a Lodgify Starter widget would add its $936.
• OwnerRez. Hosted Websites are a premium feature on the monthly invoice; its price didn’t load in our check.
• Hospitable. Annual billing saves 12%, per its help center. Direct Premium costs 4% plus 3% processing per booking instead of 1%.
• Guesty Lite. The $9 price is a “limited time offer,” and the Lite page lists the Booking Engine as an add-on with no price.
• Hostfully. The platform fee isn’t published, so its totals are incomplete. Growth ($15 per property) adds 1% gateway and 0.85% direct booking fees.
• Uplisting. Priced only in British pounds, so we don’t convert it: GBP 0 a month plus 3% per booking, or GBP 40 a month flat for one to four properties (Uplisting pricing).

If you have five properties

Per-property pricing changes the order. Monthly plan prices for five properties, from the vendors’ pages: OwnerRez $88 ($3,168 over 36 months), Hospitable Professional $59 plus 3 extra at $15 = $104 ($3,744), Hostfully Pro $25 x 5 = $125 plus the platform fee ($4,500), Lodgify Professional $131 billed yearly ($4,716) and Lodgify Ultimate $174 billed yearly ($6,264). Guesty Lite covers three listings at most. Our website cost calculator handles the domain and email lines.

Direct booking vs Airbnb and Vrbo: a worked example

This is an example, not a quote. Say you rent one cabin at $250 a night for 120 nights a year: $30,000 a year in bookings, or $90,000 over three years. Here’s what each channel costs at that volume, using published rates, if every night came through it.

The direct rows leave out the gateway’s processing fee, which Stripe or PayPal sets, and $288.96 to $300.24 for domain and email over three years. Vrbo’s 12% includes payment processing when Vrbo is the merchant of record.

What the table doesn’t show:

• Airbnb’s rate varies. Most hosts pay 15.5%, most others 14% to 16%, and the single fee is mandatory for hosts who use property management software. Under the old split fee, hosts paid 3% and guests 14.1% to 16.5% (Airbnb).
• Vrbo’s rate varies too. From October 29, 2026, Vrbo charges a flat 12% pay-per-booking commission, 12% to 15% by region, and retires its subscription model at the end of each subscription term (Expedia Group).
• New guests. Airbnb and Vrbo put you in front of people who have never heard of you. A direct site mostly serves repeat guests and people who look you up.

A more realistic test: if a quarter of those nights came direct ($7,500 a year), you’d skip $1,162.50 a year in Airbnb fees. Lodgify Starter would cost $387 a year for those bookings ($312 + 1%), or $529.50 if the 1.9% fee applies, leaving $775.50 or $633 a year ahead before gateway fees. Against Airbnb’s fee, the subscription pays for itself at about 9 direct nights a year, or 10 with the 1.9% fee.

Contracts and the cost of leaving

• Lodgify. Cancel in your account at least one day before the term ends, or five days ahead by email. Fee changes take effect at your next term, with at least 30 days’ notice. A domain bought through Lodgify can’t be transferred out within 60 days of registration (Lodgify terms, Lodgify help center).
• Guesty. The 13-month term appears in Guesty’s general terms; the Lite page describes its monthly option as month to month, so ask which applies.

The bigger cost of leaving is usually the rebuild. If a vendor doesn’t let you export a working site, you build it again. Wix scores 3/10 on our exit score, Squarespace 5/10 and self-hosted WordPress 10/10; compare them in our exit scores tool.

Hidden costs to ask about

• Fees after you leave. Lodgify’s help center says that after you cancel, transaction fees apply while a gateway is connected and Starter’s booking fee while the account is open, so close both.
• Old plans. Lodgify’s legacy Lite plan, closed to sign-ups since March 30, 2023, carries a 3.9% booking fee.
• Minimums. Hostaway’s Booking Website Pro may carry a minimum that accrues “irrespective of the Customer’s use,” plus a per-reservation fee.
• Premium direct booking. Hospitable Direct Premium is 4% plus 3% processing per booking.
• Occupancy tax. On direct bookings you collect and remit lodging taxes yourself, as Texas and Florida require.

How to keep the cost down

1. Use the site in the software you already pay for.
2. Do the fee math at your volume. Multiply your yearly direct bookings by each vendor’s percentage before comparing monthly prices.
3. Pay yearly once you’re sure. Lodgify Starter is $26 a month billed yearly instead of $33, and the free domain comes only with yearly or 2-year plans.
4. Own your domain name at your own registrar.
5. Use the trials. Lodgify offers 7 days with no card; Guesty Lite, OwnerRez and Uplisting offer 14. OwnerRez bills premium features you enable during the trial.
6. Set a renewal reminder. Lodgify says it won’t send one.

What to do next

• Start at our vacation rental website builder guide for the options and the rules your site must follow.
• See what to build in our best vacation rental websites roundup.
• Read our general website cost guide for prices outside vacation rentals.

Website costs in other industries: Real estate, Law firms, Dental, Medical, Therapists, Contractors, Electricians, Restaurants, Schools, Salons, Churches, Artists, Events, Nonprofits, Creators and courses. All industries.